Purito outsprints the other attackers on the steep climb to the finish; time bonuses see him in pink
In the most widely predicted stage finish in the race so far, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) outsprinted the rest of the peloton at the top of the climb to the Piazza del Comune in the centre of the Mediaeval city of Assisi. The Catalan winner of April’s Flèche Wallonne was led into the final half kilometre by Katusha teammate Dani Moreno, and managed to overcome counterattacks from a number of other riders to take his first victory in the race.
Second place was taken by Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp), who had joined Rodriguez and constant attacker Tom-Jelter Slagter (Rabobank) in the closing metres, while Italian champion Giovanni Visconti (Movostar) took third as Slagter faded at the finish.
The twenty-second time bonus on the line also meant that ‘Purito’ took the race leader’s Maglia Rosa from Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), who finished six seconds back in sixth place.
“I’m really happy because, to win the stage when you are considered the favourite is a special feeling,” said Rodríguez afterwards. “Everyone was waiting for it, Katusha assumed responsibility for the stage, and my teammates had a great stage; did an amazing job, from the first until the last kilometre.
“I am grateful to each of the boys, it is our team victory,” he added. “This morning, Valerio Piva, our directeur sportif, said that is important for us to win the stage and try to take the pink jersey.”
The 186km stage from Civitavecchia featured a break from Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM), Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R La Mondiale), Matthias Brändle (NetApp) and Francesco Failli (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), and went after just eleven kilometres. The five riders managed to get 4’50” ahead of the peloton in the opening 50km, before a long patient chase by Katusha brought them back.
With 32km to go Dutch time trial champion Stef Clement (Rabobank) attacked and joined the leaders but, as Katusha sat up, Garmin-Barracuda closed them down with 7.5km to go, as the final climb approached.
Tomas Vaitkus (Orica-GreenEdge) made the first move on the first steep ramps but, after he was chased down by a combination of Lampre-ISD and Astana, Slagter put in the first of his attacks. Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) got a few metres clear on the brief descent to the foot of the final climb through the Mediaeval city, but Moreno pulled Rodriguez to the front as they hit the final kilometre.
A brief attack from stage seven winner Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) was countered by another from Slagter, but he was joined by Rodríguez and Huzarski. With just 150 metres to go, Rodriguez made his winning move, and neither of his companions was able to respond.
The medium mountains return and the break goes early again
After a flat day designated for the sprinters – albeit one where most of them were to come down on the final corner – the Giro returned to the ‘medium mountains’ as it travelled north from Civitavecchia on the Tyrrhenian coast of Lazio, to the Umbrian hilltop town of Assisi; famous for its huge Basilica di San Francesco, in the birthplace of the eponymous St Francis.
Despite the lumpy profile, the only classified climb of the day was to come at the finish line, which – despite featuring sections of up to 15% in its first part, and the 10% climb through the flagstoned piazzas and narrow streets of Assisi – was only ranked as 4th category.
With time bonuses on the line, Maglia Rosa Hesjedal was expected to come under pressure from those just behind him in the standings; particularly Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), just nine seconds behind in second place.
As soon as the stage was under way there were attacks and counterattacks, as a number of riders tried to get into the break of the day. After 7km though, a crash brought down two of the previous day’s attackers, Brian Bulgaç (Lotto-Belisol) and Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi), as well as stage six winner and mountains leader Miguel Angel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) and eighth place overall Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).
All were up and riding again, and after eleven kilometres Keizer – the third of the stage nine fugitives, who’s held out the longest – got away with Minguez, Bonnafond, Brändle and Failli. The quintet covered 42.7km in the first hour, and opened a lead of 4’20” as Katusha controlled the lethargic peloton.
Bonnafond was the best-placed of the five, 23’57” behind Hesjedal, and so Garmin-Barracuda was quite happy to let Katusha do the work. After 50km the quintet was 4’50” ahead, but this was all they were to be allowed and the metronomic pace of the Russian team began to gradually close them down.
Keizer narrowly beat Minguez to the Traguardo Volante sprint line in Amelia after 97.9km, and the peloton followed 3’40” later, with World champion Mark Cavendish jumping clear to take the final point. The World champion was now just three points behind former teammate Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) in the Maglia Rossa classification, but neither was likely to score any more points in this stage.
The gap continued to fall, down to 3’13” before the feedzone shortly afterwards, it grew a few seconds as the peloton sorted out its musettes, but Katusha didn’t allow anybody to relax for long. With 65km to go the gap fell below two minutes, before rising again briefly as a number of riders – including Hesjedal – stopped for ‘comfort breaks’.
With 50km to go the gap was down to 1’50” as the five leaders began the long, unclassified drag to Montecchio, and as the race passed through the village of Bastardo, on the steady descent down the other side with 37km to go, it was down to just 1’30”.
Clement counters and Garmin-Barracuda takes over the chase
With 32km to go, and with the gap to the leaders exactly a minute, Clement attacked on the last unclassified lump before the flat plain to the foot of Assisi. The Dutchman was halfway across the gap as Failli began to try to drop his four companions; his attack managed to shed Keizer and Brändle, who were quickly caught by the speeding Clement.
The Dutchman joined the two former leaders and the three of them began to work together to try to catch the remaining three. They inched their way across the gap, but under the 25km banner they were still 25 seconds behind, while the peloton had relaxed a little and was now 1’28” behind Failli, Minguez and Bonnafond.
Katusha’s slight easing of the pace – as it had done on all three of the preceding hilly stages – saw Garmin-Barracuda, Astana and Liquigas-Cannondale move forward to take over. Clement’s position up the road changed nothing – aside from the presence of a pair of fresh legs in the break – since he was 28’03” down in the general classification, and of no danger to Hesjedal’s lead.
Clement was doing by far the lion’s share of the chasing, pulling the trio to within 16 seconds of the leaders at the 20km banner, and the Dutch time trial champion finally closed the gap with 17km to go. Garmin-Barracuda was leading the peloton at this point and seemingly quite happy to let the six riders stay away; a breakaway win would keep the time bonuses from Rodríguez and protect Hesjedal’s lead.
As the American team led under the 15km banner it had closed the gap to 52”, and by the 10km banner it was down to just 19 seconds. Unsurprisingly, Clement was looking the strongest of the six leaders, but even he was having trouble holding off the might of the Argyle Armada.
The break is caught and the climbers begin to attack
With the break in sight the RadioShack-Nissan team took over the chase, but Garmin pulled past them again to finally swallow the breakaway riders with 7.5km to go. Geraint Thomas led the Team Sky train forward as the climb approached, with Astana racing them on the opposite side of the road but, as the roads began to rise Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF Inox) attacked. The Italian sprinter was only away for a few seconds however, as the climbers’ teams rushed past.
Into the final 5km John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) hit the front, but RadioShack-Leopard soon took over; as the road steepened Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago-CSF) moved ahead, but it was Tomas Vaitkus (Orica-GreenEdge) that managed the first meaningful attack. Lampre-ISD was chasing, with Daniele Pietropolli and Damiano Cunego, and as Vaitkus was caught Slagter jumped away.
Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) was leading the chase of the young Dutchman, with Roman Kreuziger (Astana) and Rodríguez right behind him; Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF) was right behind them with Hesjedal on his wheel, but all the favourites were present.
Slagter tried again with Pozzovivo on his wheel, but couldn’t get away this time, and Rigoberto Uran led over the top of the first part of the climb with John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) on his wheel. The two of them pulled clear on the brief descent, but were caught by the Moreno-led chase as they arrived at the foot of the climb into the city, and the final kilometre.
Tiralongo made his move as Moreno pulled off, but Rodríguez and the rest were right on his wheel. Slagter went for a third time, opening up a gap, but Rodríguez and Huzarski were on him quickly, and the three of them were gradually gapping the rest.
Gianluca Brambilla (Colnago-CSF Inox) was gradually leading the rest across but, with 150 metres to go, Rodríguez made his move. Huzarski tried to chase, but couldn’t stay with the Flèche Wallonne winner, while Slagter was paying for his earlier efforts as he drifted back into the chase group.
Rodríguez crested the top of the climb and entered the piazza alone, and raised both hands as he crossed the line, safe in the knowledge that, with Hesjedal seconds behind him, he had done enough to take the Maglia Rosa.